Sino-US Relations: An Intricate Game of Go

Westerners like playing chess, while the Chinese like playing Go. These two high-IQ games put the differing strategic outlooks and value systems of the two cultures on vivid display. As peaceful development is a worldwide trend and the realization of the “Chinese Dream” is underway, there is a need for America and the West to acquaint itself with China’s strategic outlook and value system. China is playing the game of mutually beneficial, “win-win Go,” not the I-live-you-die game of “zero-sum chess.”

The object of Western chess is to put the opponent’s king in checkmate, essentially killing him. The chess board is stacked with an array of pieces — pawns, bishops, knights, rooks and a queen — all used to finish each other off in a bout of I-win-you-die, the embodiment of the Western value system. It is a system steeped in jungle law.

Over the past several hundred years, the West has relied on “superior firepower” to open the doors to profit. However, these days, that tactic has become outmoded. Today’s America is attempting to create tension and crisis situations on China’s border by continually playing up the “China threat.” As a result, a surge of military expenditures has been employed to escape economic crisis. During her development, China has never striven for maritime hegemony. She has only striven for the oceanic rights that she is due through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

As a matter of fact, the game of Go differs greatly from chess: In Go one player can live and will most likely allow the other to live as well. Only the overall amount of gains determines who wins and who loses. Altogether there are 361 stones; often only a quarter of them decide the outcome of the game.

Today, the Sino-U.S. game that is being played on the world stage is not Western chess. It is the game of Go. In the past three to five years, America has realized that in the future, only China will have the wherewithal to stand atop the world and play a game of black and whites stones with the U.S. Consequentially, China must now contend with the “return to Asia” and “smart power” policies.

China has been playing its white stones in response to America’s black ones. The positioning of the stones in the current phase of this Sino-U.S. game of Go is one in which the white stones yield to the black. From 1840 on, China suffered 100 years of humiliation delivered from the four corners of the world. In 1949, with the realization of the independence of the people and the establishment of the new China, the game in its current manifestation began. At that time, America had begun its mad dash for strategic positioning of quite a number of black pieces on the board. Soon we may see the entire Pacific become America’s black stones, pressing up tightly against three of China’s island chains. America’s enormous army, economy and sheer cultural power all serve to form the basis its powerful influence. In every aspect it has put the squeeze on China’s window of survival and development.

In careful examination of the world, China will find that the Go board is filled with row upon row of black stones. Confronted with such a situation, drawing from China’s extensive cultural background and tactical foundation of more than 5,000 years, China’s recent leaders have mastered the art of propriety and restraint in the use of force, leading the Chinese people through several different moves, such as “independence,” “concealment” and “blossoming,” which has created a decent middle game on our world Go board.

In the makeup of the middle game, America is still in a position of advantage, though the strength of its pieces falls short of those of past times and lacks a staying power. However, the discrepancy between black and white has lessened a great deal. There are three “Ko fight” pieces surrounding China: One, the Taiwan problem; two, the Diaoyu Islands dispute; three, the North Korea situation currently affecting Russia, the U.S., Japan and South Korea. The Diaoyu Islands dispute is an administrative problem — the islands were never completely reclaimed — and is a remnant of World War II. The Taiwan issue is China’s white stone within its sphere of influence, currently being exploited for profit. The North Korea issue is a remnant of the Cold War.

On a strategic level, China has a firm grasp on certain issues. North Korea is like China’s naughty, rebellious child who cannot be abandoned. Then there’s the strengthening of relations with South Korea. Japan can easily enough be left alone; an autonomous Sino-Korean trading zone should be established along with a well-rounded Sino-Korean partnership. China should take full advantage of the present timing and opportunities and continue to manage affairs both at home and throughout Eurasia. When the time is right, China can move out into the Middle East, Africa and South America. Once that stone is in place and the U.S. needs a favor from China, the Taiwan Strait and perhaps the entire South Pacific could go from being under China’s sphere of influence to being a part of China proper. A Sino-U.S. partnership in the Asia-Pacific is not a game of “life or death” chess, but a game of cooperative, win-win, “both-sides-live” Go.

World-class Go masters play the game to cultivate the body and mind, to attain a state of unbridled freedom and absolute spontaneity. The Sino-U.S. meeting of the minds set to take place at the California estate will design and set the positioning of the stones for the world’s new game of Go. Today’s Chinese people are making way for economy, cooperation and mutual benefit, which is the true essence of the game of Go.

The author is the Director of the Oceanic Politics and Strategy Institute at Guangdong Ocean University.